Editing Euripides (section)

==Reception==

Euripides was so widely read in the antique education that only Homer surpassed him.<ref name="g917">{{cite book | last1=Froelich | first1=Margaret | last2=Kochenash | first2=Michael | title=Classical Greek Models of the Gospels and Acts | publisher=Claremont Press | publication-place=Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar | date=5 October 2018 | isbn=978-1-946230-18-8 | page=116}}</ref><ref>Ilseo Park "Classical Greek Models" 2018 ''apud'' Teresa Morgan "Literate Education" 1998</ref> But the breadth of reception drew mixture. He aroused, and continues to arouse, strong opinions for and against his work:

{{blockquote|He was a problem to his contemporaries and he is one still; over the course of centuries since his plays were first produced he has been hailed or indicted under a bewildering variety of labels. He has been described as 'the poet of the Greek enlightenment' and also as 'Euripides the irrationalist';<ref group="nb">'The poet of the Greek enlightenment' is taken from W. Nestle, ''Euripides'', Stuttgart (1901); 'Euripides the irrationalist' is from E. Dodds, ''C.R'' '''43''' (1929), pp. 97–104</ref> as a religious sceptic if not an atheist, but on the other hand, as a believer in divine providence and the ultimate justice of divine dispensation. He has been seen as a profound explorer of human psychology and also a rhetorical poet who subordinated consistency of character to verbal effect; as a misogynist and a feminist; as a realist who brought tragic action down to the level of everyday life and as a romantic poet who chose unusual myths and exotic settings. He wrote plays which have been widely understood as patriotic pieces supporting Athens' war against Sparta and others which many have taken as the work of the anti-war dramatist ''par excellence,'' even as attacks on Athenian imperialism. He has been recognized as the precursor of New Comedy and also what Aristotle called him: 'the most tragic of poets' (''Poetics'' 1453a30). And not one of these descriptions is entirely false. {{emdash}} [[Bernard Knox]]<ref>B.M.Knox, 'Euripides' in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature I: Greek Literature'', P. Easterling and B. Knox (ed.s), Cambridge University Press (1985), pp. 317–18</ref>}}

Aeschylus gained thirteen victories as a dramatist; Sophocles at least twenty; Euripides only four in his lifetime; and this has often been taken as indication of the latter's unpopularity. But a first place might not have been the main criterion for success (the system of selecting judges appears to have been flawed),{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} and merely being chosen to compete was a mark of distinction.<ref>Justina Gregory, 'Euripidean Tragedy', in ''A Companion to Greek Tragedy'', Justina Gregory (ed.), Blackwell Publishing Ltd (2005), pp. 252–53</ref> Moreover, to have been singled out by Aristophanes for so much comic attention is proof of popular interest in his work.<ref>David Barrett, ''Aristophanes: The Frogs and Other Plays'', Penguin Books (1964), p. 98</ref> Sophocles was appreciative enough of the younger poet to be influenced by him, as is evident in his later plays ''[[Philoctetes (Sophocles play)|Philoctetes]]'' and ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]''.<ref>Robin Mitchel-Boyask, ''Euripides: Medea'', Hackett Publishing Co. (2008), Introduction p. xii</ref> According to Plutarch, Euripides had been very well received in Sicily, to the extent that after the failure of the [[Sicilian Expedition]], many Athenian captives were released, simply for being able to teach their captors whatever fragments they could remember of his work.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Nicias*.html| title = Plutarch, ''The Life of Nicias'' 29.}}</ref> Less than a hundred years later, Aristotle developed an almost "biological' theory of the development of tragedy in Athens: the art form grew under the influence of Aeschylus, matured in the hands of Sophocles, then began its precipitous decline with Euripides.<ref>L.P.E.Parker, ''Euripides: Alcestis'', Oxford University Press (2007), Introduction p. xl</ref> However, "his plays continued to be applauded even after those of Aeschylus and Sophocles had come to seem remote and irrelevant";<ref name="HM ix"/> they became school classics in the Hellenistic period (as mentioned in the introduction) and, due to [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca's]] adaptation of his work for Roman audiences, "it was Euripides, not Aeschylus or Sophocles, whose tragic muse presided over the rebirth of tragedy in Renaissance Europe."<ref>B.M.Knox, 'Euripides' in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature I: Greek Literature'', P. Easterling and B. Knox (ed.s), Cambridge University Press (1985), p. 339</ref>

In the seventeenth century, [[Jean Racine|Racine]] expressed admiration for Sophocles, but was more influenced by Euripides (''Iphigenia in Aulis'' and ''Hippolytus'' were the models for his plays ''Iphigénie'' and ''Phèdre'').<ref>S. Philippo, ''Silent Witness: Racine's Non-Verbal Annotations of Euripides'', Oxford University Press (2003), p. 22</ref> Euripides' reputation was to take a beating in the early 19th century, when [[Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel|Friedrich Schlegel]] and his brother [[August Wilhelm Schlegel]] championed Aristotle's 'biological' model of theatre history, identifying Euripides with the moral, political, and artistic degeneration of Athens.<ref name="L.P.E.Parker, 2007">L.P.E.Parker, ''Euripides: Alcestis'', Oxford University Press (2007), Introduction p. xlii</ref> August Wilhelm's Vienna lectures{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} on dramatic art and literature went through four editions between 1809 and 1846; and, in them, he opined that Euripides "not only destroyed the external order of tragedy but missed its entire meaning". This view influenced [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], who seems, however, not to have known the Euripidean plays well.<ref>Albert Heinrichs, 'Nietzsche in Greek Tragedy and the Tragic', in ''A companion to Greek Tragedy'', Justina Gregory (ed.), Blackwell Publishing Ltd (2005), p. 447</ref> But literary figures, such as the poet [[Robert Browning]] and his wife [[Elizabeth Barrett Browning]], could study and admire the Schlegels, while still appreciating Euripides as "our Euripides the human" (''Wine of Cyprus'' stanza 12).<ref name="L.P.E.Parker, 2007"/>  Classicists such as [[Arthur Verrall]] and [[Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff]] reacted against the views of the Schlegels and Nietzsche, constructing arguments sympathetic to Euripides,<ref>L.P.E.Parker, ''Euripides: Alcestis'', Oxford University Press (2007), Introduction pp. xl–xliv</ref> which involved Wilamowitz in this restatement of Greek tragedy as a genre: "A [Greek] tragedy does not have to end 'tragically' or be 'tragic'. The only requirement is a serious treatment."<ref>U.V. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, ''Euripides: Herakles'' Vol. 1, Darmstadt, p. 113, quoted by J. Gregory in ''A companion to Greek Tragedy'', Blackwell Publishing Ltd (2005), p. 255</ref> In the English-speaking world, the pacifist [[Gilbert Murray]] played an important role in popularizing Euripides, influenced perhaps by his anti-war plays.<ref>Justina Gregory, 'Euripidean Tragedy' in ''A companion to Greek Tragedy'', Blackwell Publishing Ltd (2005), p. 255</ref> Today, as in the time of Euripides, traditional assumptions are constantly under challenge, and audiences therefore have a natural affinity with the Euripidean outlook,<ref name="VP 10"/> which seems nearer to ours, for example, than the Elizabethan.{{clarify|date=August 2020}}<ref name="HM ix"/> As stated above, however, opinions continue to diverge, so that modern readers might actually "seem to feel a special affinity with Sophocles";<ref>{{cite book
 |last=LLoyd-Jones, H. (ed. and trans.)
 |others=Sophocles
 |date=1997
 |title=Introduction, in ''Sophocles I''
 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England
 |publisher=Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press
 |page=1
 |isbn=9780674995574
}}</ref> one recent critic might dismiss the debates in Euripides' plays as "self-indulgent digression for the sake of rhetorical display";<ref>Collard 1975, quoted by Justina Gregory, 'Euripidean Tragedy' in ''A companion to Greek Tragedy'', Blackwell Publishing Ltd (2005), p. 259</ref> and one spring to the defence: "His plays are remarkable for their range of tones and the gleeful inventiveness, which morose critics call cynical artificiality, of their construction."<ref>Peter Levi, 'Greek Drama' in ''The Oxford History of the Classical World'', J.Boardman, J. Griffin and O. Murray (ed.s), Oxford University Press (1986), p. 167</ref>

Unique among writers of ancient Athens, Euripides demonstrated sympathy towards the underrepresented members of society.<ref name="HM xviii-xix"/><ref>Nussbaum, Martha. ''The Fragility of Goodness'', pp. 411–13.</ref> His male contemporaries were frequently shocked by the heresies{{clarify|date=August 2020}} he put into the mouths of characters, such as these words of his heroine [[Medea]]:<ref>Denys L. Page, ''Euripides: Medea'', Oxford University Press (1976), Introduction p. xi</ref>
{{blockquote|
[...] ὡς τρὶς ἂν παρ᾿ ἀσπίδα<br>
στῆναι θέλοιμ᾿ ἂν μᾶλλον ἢ τεκεῖν ἅπαξ [250–251].<ref>{{cite book
 |last=Euripides
 |others=Kovacs, D. (ed. and trans.)
 |date=2001
 |title=Medea, in ''Euripides I''
 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England
 |publisher=Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press
 |page=306
 |isbn=9780674995604
}}</ref><br>
I would rather stand three times with a shield in battle than give birth once.<ref>{{cite book
 |last=Euripides
 |others=Kovacs, D. (ed. and trans.)
 |date=2001
 |title=Medea, in ''Euripides I''
 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England
 |publisher=Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press
 |page=307
 |isbn=9780674995604
}}</ref>}}